
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana pushed Tuesday to extradite a California doctor accused of mailing abortion pills, setting up a likely test of laws designed to protect telehealth providers who ship abortion pills nationwide.
This is the second time Louisiana has pursued an out-of-state doctor under its abortion restrictions, with Republican Gov. Jeff Landry saying on social media that he wants to bring the abortion provider “to justice.” The two criminal cases pit Louisiana, which has some of the strictest abortion laws in the country, against jurisdictions that have enacted what are known as shield laws for providers who facilitate abortions from afar in states with bans.
“Louisiana has a zero tolerance policy for those who subvert our laws, seek to hurt women, and promote abortion,” Landry said in a post X announcing he'd sent the extradition paperwork. California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment
Remy Coeytaux, a physician in the San Francisco Bay Area, faces a criminal charge of abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill announced Tuesday. If convicted, the doctor could face up to 50 years in jail and fines, Murrill said.
An email and a telephone message seeking comment were left for Coeytaux.
According to court documents, he is accused of mailing mifepristone and misoprostol in 2023 to a Louisiana woman who sought the medication through Aid Access, a European online telemedicine service. The woman took the pills in combination to end her pregnancy, investigators wrote in the indictment, which says authorities confirmed Coeytaux as the sender.
Murrill told The Associated Press she believes this “is not the only time he sent abortion pills into our state” and that “it probably won't be the last time we will indict him.”
The Center for Reproductive Rights, a legal advocacy group that is representing Coeytaux against civil charges, stressed that the criminal charge in Louisiana is an allegation.
“While we can’t comment on this matter itself, one thing is clear — the state of Louisiana is going after doctors for allegedly harming women, yet they are enforcing an abortion ban that puts women’s lives at risk every day,” Nancy Northup, president of the group, said in a written statement.
Coeytaux is also the subject of a separate federal lawsuit filed in July in Texas, where a man alleges the doctor illegally provided abortion medication to his girlfriend.
Medication abortion has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration since 2000. Louisiana bans abortion at all stages of pregnancy with no exceptions for rape or incest. Physicians convicted of providing abortions face up to 15 years in prison and $200,000 in fines. Last year, state lawmakers passed additional restrictions targeting out-of-state prescribers and reclassified mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled dangerous substances.
The law came after an arrest warrant was issued in Louisiana in a separate case for a New York doctor accused of mailing abortion pills to a pregnant minor. In that case, officials said the minor’s mother ordered the medication online and directed her daughter to take it. The mother was later arrested, pleaded not guilty and was released on bond.
That case appeared to be the first of its kind since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Louisiana also sought that doctor’s extradition, but New York Gov. Kathy Hochul refused, saying her state’s shield laws were designed to protect providers who offer abortion care to patients in states with bans or where telehealth prescribing is restricted. New York and California are among eight states with such protections, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights.
latest_posts
- 1
Creativity Revealed: A Survey of \Making Shocking Looks\ Cosmetics Item - 2
Get Cooking: 15 Speedy and Heavenly Recipes for Occupied Individuals - 3
Most loved Seared Chicken: Which Chain Rules? - 4
Famous Kitchen Finishing Styles For 2024 - 5
Iran's stolen futures: The arrested Iranians at risk of execution by the regime
As her kidneys fail and time runs short, this activist fights to decriminalize euthanasia in Mexico
From invasive species tracking to water security – what’s lost with federal funding cuts at US Climate Adaptation Science Centers
6 Agreeable Earphones To Wear
NASA's Artemis 2 moon launch may be visible from Florida and southern Georgia today. Here's when to look
Poll: Only 25% of Americans think Trump has 'followed through' on his promise to release the Epstein files
Modern surgery began with saws and iron hands – how amputation transformed the body in the Renaissance
Deadly heat worldwide prompts $300 million for climate health research at COP30
How will the universe end?
Nearly 16,000 New York City nurses prepare to strike as contract talks stall













